This TV ad was created as an entry into the Dorito’s annual TVC competition. From a field of over 1,000 + entries, it cracked the top 10, winning cash-money and packets of kudos to boot.

Shot on a Friday afternoon, it was edited over the weekend, ready for submission first thing on the Monday morning.

Indeed, it was one of those projects that really drew upon the full gamut of my various abilities.

From editing the footage shot by Abhijit; to editing the images shot by Jana; to recording the folly; to even acting in the spot, it was a whirlwind of all hands on deck.

It was also a significant project as I was able introduce the world to one of my favourite alter egos, Dr Saul Heffschteiner.

The ad also featured the defaced faces of the Merchantwise crew who generously lent their maws and mugs to the cause. They happened upon this rare honour as they were the bods at the agency where I was subletting at the time.

The story itself painted an absurd portrait of a wayward plastic surgeon who had devised a surgical procedure that he called ‘triangulation’. This gruesome experiment was enacted in the service of allowing his patients to eat Doritos with the greatest of ease. After all, a triangular mouth is going to present an inherent advantage for those keen on ingesting triangular corn chips at the maximum rate possible.

Having placed in the top 10, the ad received quite a lot of media coverage in its own right, as well as making it into the prestigious European advertising periodical, Lürzer’s Archive.

Doritos – Extreme Makeover

VIDEO:

Open up on Dr Saul Heffenschteiner sitting in a small, musty, old-fashioned doctor’s surgery. There some diagnostic equipment in the foreground and Dr Heffenschteiner wears a white medical coat, latex gloves and wears a surgical mask around his neck.t

Dr Saul Heffenschteiner: (in a bad South African accent)

People, they come to me and they have a need… and I, I provide a service.

VIDEO:

Front shot of a vintage slide projector.

Cut to Dr Heffenschteiner’s hand holding the slide controller and pressing the button to advance to the next slide.

Cut to a slide screen where we can see two gruesome, successive portraits being projected of patients whose mouths have been horribly disfigured to approximate the shape of a triangle. There are horrifying stitches that serve to underline the shonky, shonky nature of Dr Heffenschteiner’s improvisational, back-yard surgical style.

Cut back to a closeup of Dr Heffenschteiner shot from the front.

Dr Saul Heffenschteiner:

What I’m doing has never been done before.

VIDEO:

Cut to another slide of one of his unfortunate ‘triangulated’ patients.

Cut back to a mid shot of Dr Heffenschteiner with the full slide screen in shot. Another one of his ‘triangulated’ patients is shown, projected on screen.

Dr Saul Heffenschteiner:

You see, it’s very tricky trying to triangulate the smile.

VIDEO:

Cut to a low angle of Dr Heffenschteiner talking to camera.

Dr Saul Heffenschteiner:

But once the mouth is surgically triangulated…

VIDEO:

Cut to another two closeup portraits of his disfigured patients.

Dr Saul Heffenschteiner:

It makes it much easier to load the Doritos…

VIDEO:

Cut to a high angle, looking down on Dr Heffenschteiner, who now holds an open pack of Doritos. He reaches in and proceeds to grind a handful of corn chips into his mouth and face, causing a spray of Doritos shrapnel.

Dr Saul Heffenschteiner:

It just doesn’t work!

VIDEO:

Cut to pack shots of the Doritos range projected onto the slide screen.